Multi Vitamins are they really a scam?

I have always thought multi vitamins where useless. The reason is my urine is dark yellow, so I must just be peeing it out. I was wondering do you guys think this is true. Also I have heard that vitamins aren't from sources that the body can use efficiently, that they are just a waste. I am wondering what is everyones thoughts on this matter. Next are some brands of vitamins better that others?

I have always thought multi vitamins where useless. The reason is my urine is dark yellow, so I must just be peeing it out. I was wondering do you guys think this is true. Also I have heard that vitamins aren't from sources that the body can use efficiently, that they are just a waste. I am wondering what is everyones thoughts on this matter. Next are some brands of vitamins better that others?

Dark urine is fine, some vitamins and minerals are fat soluble and some are water soluble, you are seeing some of the excess water soluble ones eliminated via urine. You have excess because it would be practically impossible to use every molecule in the vitamin pill before eliminating some of it through your regular digestion and excretion processes.

Some doctors will spout of cute little cliches like "expensive urine" and claim one can get everything they need from a proper diet. Maybe that is true for the typical person (although I'm not totally sold on that either) but if you're lifting you're not typical. What would you rather do? Spend the extra 20 to 30 or 40 bucks on a good multi-vitamin/mineral or chance not getting enough of what your body needs and losing gains and performance?

Mostly the doctor thing has more to do with how scientists handle data and generalize to models that "best fit" the populous. than any kind of conspiracy against supplements. Anyone bodybuilding should make sure he or she has a doctor on the same wave-length as far as technology and nutrition/training goes. Forget the general practitioner who still hasn't realized an entire literature in support of creatine exists.

As far as what kind of multi-vitamin to take, you will need to research that. Most solid pill form are chelated. Google it and you can read what chelated means. Same with the other forms.

Given the exhaustion of US farm soils, trace minerals and mineral-dependent enzymes are all but absent from our food supply; vitamin levels are low due to the fact that produce is picked long before it ripens, to accommodate the time required for the delivery chain, so enzymatic action has little chance - the produce may be be large, firm & brightly-colored, but largely tasteless and not exactly nutrient-dense; much of what nutrition remains (beyond the macros) is damaged (if not eliminated) during canning, freeze-drying, transportation and storage.

Witness the herds of over-fed and under-nourished upright bovines we have staggering around.

As for vitamins & scams. They're called vitamins as a contraction of "vital amines" - vital because our bodies can't make them: we must consume them, and in sufficient quantities. There's plenty of good, solid science here, so learn to be an informed consumer In both senses).

There are in fact, plenty of snake-oil salesmen in the supplement business, and vitamins are a big part of the supplement business, and they're easy enough to find - or at least recognise; however, vitamins are not scams. Once again, it's important to know what the major vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are, and what they do for you; otherwise, it's very difficult to be an informed consumer. Learn to think beyond the macros.

For one thing, there are reputable brands, and what you might call 'bar-code' brands - most of these show up as "house" brands, and are what you'll find at the corner drug store, or the grocery; these are generally made, packaged, shipped, stored, bottled, labeled, shipped and stored on a commodity basis. They are minimal potency, w/ no particular care taken in their production & distribution: a low-to-medium-quality product with a shelf-life, a too-low dose, and sometimes in elemental forms that are useless to us (classic example I guess is ferric oxide, put in pre-natal vitamins to make sure pregnant women get enough iron: problem is, our bodies can't make use of ferric oxide, so the only effect is constipation).

The (*ahem*) respectable brands tend to use higher-quality ingredients/raws/extractions, handle them more carefully, tend to spend a lot of money & ingenuity on processing methods that preserve as much as possible the nutritional value of whatever it is, they package their products more carefully, they keep in touch with actual research. My multi is Daily One from TwinLab, without iron. I take one at each of my 3 main meals.

About pissing yellow: that's B-1 (if it's the fluorescent yellow; if it's the dark, stinky yellow, you're dehydrated)): like the rest of the B-complex (and C), it's water-soluble, which means that anything your body hasn't used yet will cycle out in a few hours. Which means it should be re-dosed every few hours, as blood-levels are important (have I heard that somewhere before?).

Peer Review of a recent clinical study conducted by the University of California Berkeley has been completed. This study has been dubbed the “Landmark Study” and will be the groundbreaking baseline for future clinical studies.

Shaklee Corporation based in Pleasonton, CA came out on top of it’s game as the ONLY company that has proof their vitamins and supplements work and have an impact on disease states.

Peer Review of a recent clinical study conducted by the University of California Berkeley has been completed. This study has been dubbed the “Landmark Study” and will be the groundbreaking baseline for future clinical studies.

Shaklee Corporation based in Pleasonton, CA came out on top of it’s game as the ONLY company that has proof their vitamins and supplements work and have an impact on disease states.